Luli the Panda in my Etsy shop

Little Luli is just 7" tall. Her pretty turquoise color came from dying with Berry Blue Kool-aid. I like dying with Kool-aid because you get such vivid colors. I found the little "take-out" purse box first and thought it would go well with a little Panda. Please visit Luli and the other critters in my Etsy shop.

I also wanted to mention how excited I am that Hopalong and the Chick Roundup won it's catagory in the Softie Easter Parade. There were a lot of great entries and Lisa did a wonderful job of putting the parade together. Check out the new blog Plush Parade for more great softies.

Maisy on Bid 4 Bears

Maisy, the little bear at the top of my blog, is up for auction on Bid 4 Bears. The auction ends tomorrow March 28. Maisy would really love to bring her bouquet to your house. Check out the auction here.

Schnapps the Schnauzer

Remember my dye day last week, well this little Schnauzer is one of the critters to come from the dyed pieces. Someone emailed me before I did a Teddy bear show in Tampa last month and asked if I had ever made a Schnauzer. She attended the show and asked again. I told her I was thinking about it. I finally figured out how to get the look-with the beard and longer fur on his legs one night just before falling to sleep. He is made with 2 lengths of mohair-the shorter mohair dyed a shade darker than the longer. I added some eyebrows by dying some wool to match and needle felting them. Schnapps is only 5 1/2" tall and I am pleased with the way he turned out. The person that requested a Schnauzer answered right away so he will be going to his new home soon. But I have already had a request for another!

Easter Finery

I remember how exciting it was to get a new dress and shoes for Easter. Now I look back at some of those outfits and laugh. The first pic is from 1962(dating myself here). That's my brother Dennis, sister Mary Louise and me. The second pic is from 1963. That's me in a frilly green dress complete with hat and gloves. The flowers are from my mom's garden the the car is my dad's 1956 Buick. The dress and new patent leather shoes would be my "Sunday Best" for the next year. Those were definately much simpler times.

Softie Easter Parade

Remember to check out the Softie Easter Parade on the Q D Patooties blog. Tomorrow is the last day and will feature Bunnies. Lisa has put a lot of work into the parade. There will be voting in the differant categories March 24-26. The pic above is my entry into the "Hot Chicks" category. It's called Hopalong and the chick roundup.

The Thanksgiving Softie Parade and the Easter Parade have been so popular Lisa has started a new blog & flickr group called Plush Parade. So now you can see wonderfully creative softies year round!

What's in your basket? Edinburgh Challenge

The current challenge on the Edinburgh forum is "What's in your basket?". Creations associated with spring and baskets - flowers, decorated eggs, bunnies, chicks, even chocolate - all are welcome in this Challenge. The best part is the winner gets $25 gift certificate from Edinburgh Imports. The entry deadline is March 31, so add your spring/Easter related creations.

Happy St Pat's Day

I really am part Irish. My maiden name was Ferrall, a very Irish name. Family lore has it that my great grandfather was an Irish sea captain. He sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and settled in Maryland. Also according to family lore our name used to have an O' (O"Ferrall). When my grandfather entered the US Navy, sometime before WWI, they said he didn't need the O' so they took it off. When in elementary school, my brother and I would dress up for St Pat's day. Me in a pretty green dress and my brother in a huge necktie covered in green shamrocks. We usually got invited to the pricipal's office as he was also of Irish heritage. So I still celebrate "The wearin o' the green". I certainly don't want to get pinched.

Softie Easter Parade starts tomorrow!

JOIN THE FUN!

It's so exciting! Lisa's Thanksgiving Softie Parade was a big hit. I know she has put a lot of work into setting up the Easter parade. This time she started a flickr group for posting pics and as a result there are many more entries. It starts off with "Hot Chicks" tomorrow, 3/16 and "Blarney" 3/17, Pastels 3/18 & 19, Billions of Bunnies 3/20 & 21. Then there will be voting 3/22-25 with winners in each catagory announced on the 26th. Click here to go to Lisa's q. D. patooties blog to view the parade.

Dye Day

After I finished working(listing books on Amazon) I decided to dye some mohair fur. Several weeks ago someone asked me about making a Schnauzer. I finally figured out how to do it. After making my pattern, I cut out, from 2 differant kinds of white mohair, the pieces. The legs and muzzle are longer fur. The body, ears, tail, and the rest of the head are shorter fur. They needed to be 2 differant shades of gray too. I mixed up the dye bath over the stove and immersed the longer fur pieces first..they need to be lighter gray. I then added more dye and put in the shorter fur pieces and timed it. The first batch(in the picture on the left) came out too dark. I'll guess I'll use those pieces on a different dog..maybe a Boston(?). I measured out half of the dye bath and then put that much plain water back in, heated it up again. I tried again with the new pieces I had cut out from the white fur. The short white fur I used is one of my favorites and I usually have a good size piece of it on hand(luckily). I'm happy with the shade they came out the second time. While I had the grey dye bath I decided to dye another piece of the longer fur so I can make a cat. Since I had my dye stuff out I did another siamese cat dye job. A busy Dye Day!

Space Shuttle Launch

I finally got caught up on my sleep. The shuttle Endeavour launched Tuesday morning at 2:28AM. We live only a few miles from Kennedy Space Center. Whenever there is a launch we jump in the car and drive about 6 miles to the Indian River in Titusville. You can look right across the river and see the launch pad. Bill's cousin and his wife are visiting from Connecticut so we had to go see this one even though it meant getting up in the middle of the night. Night launches are awesome! It's like sunrise in a few seconds. Then the sound hits you.. a low rumble that builds until you feel it. It was over in a few minutes but worth getting up and driving to the river.

2 Auctions on Bid 4 Bears

Ok, my first listing in the artist power campaign on Bid 4 Bears is Millicent the Innocent. The look on her face kinda happened by accident and inspired her name. You will have the go to her auction on Bid 4 Bears to see what she is hiding behind her back.

The second is The Wild Hare just in time for Easter. I had a lot of fun making this guy! He is ready for the parade. Check out his auction here.

Bid 4 Bears Artist Power Campaign

Bid 4 Bears is an auction website specifically for Teddy Bears, other critters and dolls. The Bid 4 Bears Artist Power Campaign starts Sunday March 9. There are over 25 artists signed up. The idea is power in numbers. Artists have committed a bear or critter every week or every other week. They will tell everyone on their mailing lists. The idea is the generate a lot of traffic. Bid 4 Bears is a wonderful alternative to ebay. A lot of sellers are very unhappy with ebay because of changes they are making. It would be great to get collectors coming to Bid 4 Bears instead. Visit Bid 4 Bears

Japanese Fabric

I spent a good hour today looking at Japanese cotton prints on etsy. I just put Japanese fabric in the search box and all these wonderfully cute little prints come up. There were owls, bears, pigs, flowers and even mushrooms. You can get fat quarters or more of most fabrics. Mixed in with the fabrics were neat things made with Japanese prints that you can get from various etsy shops. There were hair clips, little bags and doll clothes. I ended up get a fat quarter of a prints with little panda faces. I'm thinking about the prints in the pic. They are from an etsy shop called fabricstash. Etsy definately has a better selection than my local fabric store. Actually the closest fabric store is 40 miles away. Think what I saved in gas!

Angelina the Chihuahua

I spent all afternoon working on photos and auction templates for the Artist Power Campaign on Bid 4 Bears...more about that in a later post. My shoulders ache and I'm ready to take a rest from the computer. I wanted to post first.

Yesterday I finished Angelina the Chihuahua for the Chihuahua Club of Maryland auction to raise money for their rescue efforts. I think she turned out kinda cute and I hope they are happy with her. Hope she helps bring in some funds too. I believe the event is next month(April).